All posts in tactical knives

Timberline Tactical Knives

I had the fortunate experience to work the Gatco Sharpener booth at the NRA Convention last Spring and it was a very insightful experience.   When I first showed up most of the knives looked the same to me, but after about 2 days of handling them, I was able to distinguish between all of the knives and how they were different.   There are numerous sharpeners from Gatco that are options in sharpening your knife, but some of them are pocket sizes and others are kits.   The Military Carbide sharpener is probable the most straight forward, but since not all knives are straight edge or plain edge.   You may have a hard time getting to partially serated knives.  That’s where the the sharpening kits come in.

We ran a giveaway at the Gatco sharpener booth where we gave away an SOC knife with every kit that was purchased.  Probable the biggest seller for those that purchased the Timberline knives, was the Edgemate Professional Knife Sharpening system.  There is a stone that can be used to get to the serations and it only took a few strokes to notice the difference.  Once you get the hang of using the sharpening system, you can sharpen knifes even faster.   One thing we didn’t see at the show was any blood flow, but I was informed that almost every year somebody cuts themselves there.   Safe handling of knives is something you’ll be practicing whenever you use a sharpening system.

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CCW options, gun, knife, mace, fists, flashlights and strobes

I think those about sum up your options for fighting and maybe if you are in good shape a good kicking foot will do.   I primarily count on firearms for self defense because there are levels of threats and levels of criminal intent and showing a gun is enough to deter most crimes when a knife or flashlight really might just make a bad guy laugh at you especially if he’s bigger.  I’ve seen first hand that a untrained person with a knife isn’t going to inflict much damage and unless you actually know how to move with a knife, don’t even try and wield it.   A tactical knife is a good accessory to concealed carry, but not something for the amateur to fight with.

Something to consider which is showing up more and more in CCW flashlight courses I have sat in on are the strobe flashlights.   Now, first of all, I’m not going to tell you that it’s something that is going to stop a threat, I’m just saying that it is something else to consider especially when Streamlight Flashlights only cost you about $50+ dollars and might give you something else to use on a dumb drunk that is really just an annoyance rather than a threat.  An unsuspecting drunk isn’t going to like having a 180 Lumen flashlight and a ” Hi, how are you” from a friendly CCW that flashes him in the eyes and then gets into a car and drives off.

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Flashlights, cell phones and knives

I remember that is now only about 12yrs since the era of my life when I walked around without a cell phone on me.   I remember when people carried pagers and had to walk away from a Thanskgiving dinner to answer an emergency.   Much has changed in recent years in communications, but not much has changed as far as self defense and emergency preparedness.   I’m still looking for the right size flashlight that I can carry 7 days a week, but I’m either bothered by the size of the ones that I do like to use or the smaller ones are too expensive and I’m afraid I’m just going to loose one of the darn things.

The cell  phone is probable now your #1 tool, but flashlights and knives are extremely useful in emergencies.   If you or someone in the road is trapped in a vehicle, a small tactical knives could mean saving a life and trying to tear a seat belt is impossible with bare hands.   I have carried gas can and fixa flat in my car because I’ve done so many road trips where stupid nail would have meant waiting 4hrs for a tow truck or walking 10 miles to a gas station.   Flashlights are also something that should aways be in a car because there is nothing worse than a dead battery or dangerous environment without being able to see your surroundings or flag someone down.

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Things to keep in your car besides firearms

There is a mindset that goes with the responsible Citizen and it’s not all about firearms and self defense.   I’m a big proponent of getting First Aid or emergency response training if you are a concealed carry holder or if you have taken defensive firearm training.  Not only are you preparing yourself for defending  yourself, you may be involved in a situation where others besides the BG may have been shot or injured.  I’ve witnessed enough violent crime in my life to know that some old guy or an old lady may have a heart attack in a crisis situation and knowing  how to deal with that is important.

I keep a spare magazine in my car for the nightmare scenario of needing it, but I also carry jumper cables, fix a flat and tire pressure gauges.   Another thing to consider having is small fire extinguisher and something you can use to cut a seat belt or smash out a car window.   Breaking car windows can be difficult if you don’t have the proper tools, but  many tactical knives and something like the SOG Fusion tactical tomahawk will make it easier to smash open a window to free someone from a burning car.   I witnessed several car accidents that turned into car fires and sometimes people will become unconscious after an impact. There are many ways to save peoples lives.  Having the tools to do so

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Practical and tactical should go hand in hand

Although I am a big fan of battle rifles and prefer to carry a gun bigger than an M4, if I gotta carry ammo on my person and it’s not being carried in the trunk of my car, I’ll gladly take the smaller caliber.    The M1 Garand is a great and powerful weapon, but combat is at a much faster pace and being able to suppress a target with small arms is as important as neutralizing it.  If you are a weekend warrior and are considering taking a Carbine Class, even though your training will take place in the Course, you should do research on gear and accessories before you walk in the door.

 

I always try to sit in on training courses whenever I can although I wish I had the time to actually take more classes.   I’ve written on several occassions that one of my greatest joys of watching classes is watching all of the gear fall off or fail a student and watching their slow evolution of losing gear along the way.   Theirs nothing wrong with being a tactical accessory junky, but if you have to carry an M4 all day like i’ve had to, you’ll quickly learn that lightweight, means a happy person.  There seems to be a big craze getting tactical gear with the quad rails even though most people don’t need them, and then having to go out and get rail covers, when a simple stock would have lightend the gun by a few pounds.

 

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Tactical gear and clothing

There are a lot of words that get thrown around in the firearm industry that are fairly broad.    Tactical clothing these days may sound like BDUs to one person and 5.11 tactical clothing to another.    Tactical gear can mean anything from a folding stock to a knife, or a $1500 rifle scope.    The word “tactical” doesn’t really tell you what something is going to be used for in the field.    I have some pretty dressed down AR15 rifles that to some people, just look like violent weapons and scare them, while most of us that are familiar with the accessorized M4 Carbine, will find a A2 style AR15 to be  pretty bland.

The so called tactical clothing and concealed carry markets seem to be new markets and these terms get thrown around a lot but don’t really tell us much.  To the trained individual, they can spot a knife in the pocket and 5.11 style pants from a mile away and loads of pockets full of tactical gear and usually that’s a dead giveaway that someone is carrying a firearm.   Think about what purpose your clothing is to serve and adapt to it.   There are more than a few good clothing companies that are making concealed carry friendly apparel.

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The most useful tool outside of your cell phone

I am not one to promote the fact that I am carrying a knife.   I notice that many in the tactical community that carry firearms are also carrying folding knives and they usually clip them on to their front pocket.   I’m not being paranoid when making the claim that this is usually a dead giveaway that the person is also a CCW holder and is packing a 9mm somewhere.   Not only is the knife a weapon that a BG knows can be used against him, it’s a hint that is not covert.    People are going to do whatever they feel comfortable doing, but try to think about being discreet when carrying anything of the sort.     There are plenty of places where carrying guns is so common, that everyone knows there is a 75% chance that somebody in the building has a gun, so some crimes just don’t really happen that often.

Knives come in all lengths and durability.   I’ve still got knives I had when I was 8yrs old and they are still sharp even though they were neglected.   I’ve had previous jobs where keeping a box cutter in my back pocket was so common that I usually had a pile of them on my dresser because I always brought them home from work and forgot to take them out.   I think a good 2 inch blade is a good average size blade that is long enough for defensive purpose, but very practical tactical knives for the working man.   Since we deal with a lot of UPS boxes every day, it’s nice to know that my everyday carry knife is my box cutter, screwdriver and defensive weapon.    If you’ve got the job that carrying a fixed blade Cold Steel knife, then so be it, but like many of the firearms I have had to carry on the job, I always ended up working my way towards something smaller and more comfortable.

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Looking for Zombie killing options

Do search for gun clubs and shooting ranges in your State to find out if anyone is holding a Zombie shoot.   They usually occur in the September to October months.   Having some good tactical clothing that will securely hold your gear.   The Eotac Style 201 pants are my favorite because they hold 6- 30rd PMAGS and they are easy to run in.   Tactical vests like the Style 101 are not heavy and don’t make you feel like you are wearing a flak jacket.   There is a time and a place for different types of tactical vests, but mobility is important.  You may want to try getting your magazines loaded up with all of your gear and then try running 100yds with it and see what it feels like and if stuff starts to fly out of your pockets.   Mobility is extremely important.

There seems to be a new craze in competition shooting in recent years.   I’ve seen more high school boys coming home from class with Zombie survival guides, the recent 28 Days later type movies and the doomsday virus outbreaks.    I guess IDPA has lost some traction to the present generation, but I’ve attended a few Zombie survival competitions and they were very good training events.   The best thing about it was the amount of tactical gear that I watched fail, and the number of really novice mistakes people made.   Out of the 5 stages I attended, there was 1 stage that we saw about 18 firearms go down.   About half of those were AK variants and they were mostly magazine related.  Some guys never knew how hard it was to do a tactical reload on an AK if there was a round in the chamber and a fully loaded 30rd magazine.  People found out what happens after firing off the 1st round and the magazine falls out.

 

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Folding knives and camping

I have a few knives that have been passed down through a few generations.   Most of them look like they were used in Boy Scouts.  Some were Bowie knives that must have been fun to use, but were really an over kill.   Not that there is anything wrong with it, but carrying those around all the time made a  kid feel cool, but mostly likely got in the way.   Recently I got out to do some nature conservation and decided to spend the weekend at a State Park.    We weren’t allowed to bring in our own firewood which I normally do, just because I like to know that I’ll have good dry wood for cooking in need be even if the weather isn’t good.
At the gate of the park, we picked up a few bundles of wood, we took it back to camp and I brought out my Columbia River folding knife and slashed open a bundle that was shrink wrapped and tied with a rope.   I’m still not sure what tactical knives are, but this one works for me.  A co-worker of mine was tugging and pulling on his stack and had trouble getting it undone.    Everyone likes to bring knives for cooking, but even just a simple folding knife in your pocket can be very useful.   Whenever your camping, there is room for you to pack a knife.

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Useful tools for practical defense

Tactical KnivesA knife is a tool, tools can be used for many things.   How many times have good people used knives for good and how many have been used for evil.    Just about anything you find in your tool box can be used for self defense purposes and some may be quite good.   Many years ago the Swiss Army knife was issued and it is a great thing to use if your in the Army or in Scounting, but they really aren’t the best thing to use for self defense.

Some self defense instructos may tell you that folding knives are not the best fighting weapons, and they probable aren’t, but it doesn’t mean you can’t use it for slashing a BG or just showing it to a potential robber to ward him off.   Sog Knifes are a great place to look for a diverse tactical knives product line for knives that can be used for camping, cutting, and fighting and you feel real insecure, try the SOG Battle ax.

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